The Clippers are a team built on the strong foundation of their starting lineup, and once you get past Jamal Crawford, there are few if any reliable reserves to be found.

Besides Crawford, only Austin Rivers and Glen Davis have played double-digit minutes consistently off the bench in the first round of the playoffs against the Spurs, and after Davis left Game 6 with an ankle injury, his status is in doubt for Saturday’s Game 7.

Los Angeles Clippers forward Glen “Big Baby” Davis is questionable for Saturday’s Game 7 against the San Antonio Spurs with a left ankle sprain.

Clippers coach Doc Rivers said Davis would be a game-time decision with the team not holding a practice Friday or shootaround on Saturday. …

“I don’t know how serious it is. I know Big Baby’s a worker,” Chris Paul said. “Guys stepped up when he went down, but we need him. We need him. Baby’s an emotional leader for our team. He really leads that second unit, and we have an amazing training staff, I think the best training staff in the league. Those guys will get him ready to go by Saturday.”

Paul’s overly-optimistic remarks show just how important Davis is to the rotation.

He’s the only big man to come off the bench for the Clippers thus far in the playoffs, and though Davis is only averaging 12.5 minutes per contest, L.A. needs to not be too undersized out there during the brief moments that Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan come out of the game to get some rest.

In a Game 7, though, with the season literally on the line, Doc Rivers may just choose to play his starters even heavier minutes than usual.

It had been one of the key stats from Games 1-5 of the first round slugfest between the Clippers and Spurs: Blake Griffin was 4-of-21 in the fourth quarter of games. He had been wearing down, his legs weren’t there, and he was 1-of-9 on jumpers because of it.

Thursday night in Game 6, he was 3-of-3 in the fourth quarter and had a monster second half with 18 points. It’s one of the principal reasons there will be a Game 7 Saturday at Staples.

If he has another game like that, the odds the Clippers move on go way up.

It’s been too good not to — two of the three best teams in the NBA right now (sorry Cleveland, Houston) forced to face off in the first round when this could have been a conference finals.

Game 6 lived up to the hype. In a series where Chris Paul and Blake Griffin had often struggled late in games, they flipped the script Thursday night. Paul had 15 points and seven assists in the second half, while Griffin added 18 and had a key block on Tim Duncan with 5:50 left in the game.

“I thought Chris and Blake took the game over. We didn’t stop them, and they were tremendous,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

Those two did enough to power the Clippers to a 102-96 win in San Antonio Thursday night. This forces a Game 7 back in Los Angeles Saturday night (8 p.m. Eastern on TNT).

The way this series has gone, that game may be more entertaining than the Mayweather-Pacquiao that follows.

“I’ve been saying this all year, this team is mentally tough,” Doc Rivers said after the win.

“We lost because the Clippers were determined, physical, focused, played harder than we did,” a smoldering Popovich said postgame. “We were soft on loose balls, we’d get a rebound they’d knock it out of our hands, hard time getting open — I thought their physicality in that regard was great. We were just soft. I’m not sure how we stayed in the game to be honest with you.

As you would expect in a closeout game, the Clippers came out with a sense of urgency. Their pressure defense looked quicker than it had all series and forced eight first-quarter Spurs turnovers, which led to easy buckets in transition. Those points plus DeAndre Jordan altering shots inside, and J.J. Redick starting 4-of-5 shooting, made this what should have been a perfect start for the Clippers, who led by as many as seven in the first. But, as it has been all series, the Clipper bench came in and things instantly tightened up. By the end of the first it was 26-26. The Clippers could not create separation.

The second quarter became the Marco Belinelli show for the Spurs as he came in and went 4-of-4 from three, part of a 9-0 run. Then the Spurs went to hack-a-DJ, and it helped open the lead up to 10, although that was more about the Clippers missing 19 three pointers in a row (across two games). However, with the intentional fouling Tim Duncan and Tony Parker picked up their third fouls and went to the bench, the Clippers brought their starters back in, and the Clippers went on an 11-4 run.

The score was 51-51 at the half. Yet the Clippers had to feel fairly good about that considering CP3 was 0-of-7 while as a team they were 1-of-9 from three.

The Clippers came out hitting their shots in the third quarter to take a 10-point lead. Doc Rivers went with his shooters and had his small lineup doing damage, led by CP3 making plays — six games into the series and the Spurs have not come close to solving the Clips double high screen play. Paul had help from Griffin, who had struggled in the fourth quarter throughout the series was 3-of-3 in the final frame plus had some big defensive plays down the stretch.

Of course, there were close calls late. Jamal Crawford got away with a walk late. Boris Diaw got caught on an offensive shot interference call tipping in a missed shot while it was over the cylinder. A lot of things could have gone another way, befitting this series.

The Spurs got 23 points off the bench from Belinelli — he was 7-of-11 from three on the night and hit a shot in the final minute to keep the Clippers on edge. Borris Diaw added 17 points. Kawhi Leonard had a rough night, shooting 3-of-15 and not being his usual self on defense.

It was not all good news for the Clippers. Glen Davis had to leave the game — and be wheeled back to the locker room — for what was officially called a sprained ankle but looked to be something worse with a foot he had broken a couple years back.

Game 7 could go either way — four of the six wins in this series have come on the road. All the games save one have been decided late because these are two evenly-matched teams. Two title contenders standing toe-to-toe, trading blows.

I guess you can say “Champion teams don’t do this.” But I don’t think lottery teams do, either.

Seriously, what team does this?

And how did Griffin get away with it?

Clippers fans can (rightly) complain about Chris Paul getting a cheap technical late in the game, but if Simmons description is accurate, the Clippers came out ahead. Griffin definitely deserved a tech for what Simmons described.

At least Ekpe Udoh didn’t have to clean it up this time (as he did for Matt Barnes earlier in the series):

This much we know: Blake Griffin is struggling in the fourth quarter against San Antonio in the Clippers’ first round playoff series (currently led by San Antonio 3-2). Griffin was 1-of-9 in the fourth quarter on Tuesday, he is now 4-of-21 in the fourth in this series.

And he looks tired, without spring in his step come the fourth quarter. That’s why he’s 1-of-9 on jump shots in the fourth (and left a key free throw short in Game 5). His legs aren’t under him. (Tim Duncan guarding him in Game 5 didn’t help, either.)

Doc Rivers tried to downplay the bench issue after the game, but Doc the coach needs to tell Doc the GM to improve the bench this offseason.